With presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s ascension to the top of the GOP field, everyone is talking about his 9-9-9 tax plan — or should we say “SimCity’s” 9-9-9 tax plan?

Anyone who has played “SimCity 4,” in which the user is “mayor” of a virtual town, will remember that the default tax rate in Truthdigopolis (or whatever your town was called) for commercial, residential and industrial taxes was 9 percent.

That’s awfully similar to Cain’s plan, which is to charge a flat 9 percent for a national sales tax, personal income tax and business tax.

Although Cain’s plan would likely increase taxes for everyone but the wealthy and flush corporations, the candidate has said its simplicity has been the key to his success. A senior producer at the company that produced “SimCity” draws the same conclusion. — PZS

The Huffington Post:

Adopting such a simple tax structure, Katsarelis said, would allow fantasy political leaders to focus their energy on infrastructure and national security. “Our game design team thought that an easy to understand taxation system would allow players to focus on building their cities and have fun thwarting giant lizard attacks, rather than be buried by overly complex financial systems.”

When asked about similarities between Cain’s plan and SimCity’s default tax rates, Cain campaign spokesman JD Gordon replied, “Well, we all like 9-9-9.”

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